We are a consortium of investigators engaged in basic and clinical research which requires digital image processing of biological images. These various projects all consume large amounts of computer time, and are best done on a relatively large computer with extensive memory. Presently, some of us use scaled down programs designed to run on laboratory microcomputers (unsatisfactory due to slowness and limited memory). Others of us have negotiated limited access to the sophisticated image processing systems that exist in the Electrical Engineering (EE) Department or at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Thse systems both rely on VAX 11/780, a moderately fast, several hundred megabyte computer linked to a COMTAL one/20 image processor which provides video image input and output functions. In this proposal we request funds to complete a state-of-the-art Image Processing Laboratory in the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. The system will be modeled on the systems in EE and at SNL and will receive both hardware and software support from these facilities. We have already acquired a COMTAL processor. We propose to upgrade the COMTAL unit and interface it to a VAX 11/780 computer and peripherals. Addition of these components to the existing core of instruments and software is essential to continue and extend the following, mostly NIH-supported projects: analysis of dynamic properties of the cell surface and cytoskeleton; computer-based analysis of renal radiation response; analysis of diffusion and bulk flow of molecules in brain interstitial fluid; analysis of the structure of proteins and protein/DNA interaction during transcription as seen by electron and field ion microscopy; magnetic resonance image synthesis and ultrasound image processing; and three-dimensional reconstruction of smooth muscle and of muscle-tendon junction. There is no multiuser computer facility in the School of Medicine. Consequently, installation of a VAX 11/780 is expected to benefit the broader community of NIH-supported investigators whose research programs require access to a powerful computer for purposes other than image processing.